SOUTHEAST

JURY REJECTS 15-YEAR-OLD BOY’S ZOLOFT DEFENSE

CHARLESTON, S.C. – A 15-year-old boy who claimed the antidepressant Zoloft drove him to kill his grandparents and burn their house down was found guilty of murder yesterday and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The jury took six hours to reject Christopher Pittman’s claim that he was “involuntarily intoxicated” by the drug and could not be held responsible for the crime. The case was one of the first of its kind to come to trial in America since the government began taking a close look at the dangers of antidepressant use among teenagers.

Pittman was 12 in 2001 when he killed his grandparents, Joe Pittman, 66, and Joy Pittman, 62, with a pumpaction shotgun as they slept in their rural home, then torched their house and drove off in their car.He was charged as an adult.

Pittman hung his head as the verdict was read. “I know it’s in the hands of God. Whatever he decides on, that’s what it’s going to be,” he said quietly, just before Judge Danny Pieper handed down the minimum sentence. The boy could have gotten life in prison.

About a month before the slayings, Pittman was hospitalized after threatening to kill himself. He was prescribed the antidepressant Paxil and was later put on Zoloft.

A psychiatrist testified for the defense that the Zoloft was to blame for the killings, and a former Food and Drug Administration official told the jury that the crime was an angry, rash, manic act “that was chemically induced.”

– Associated Press

WASHINGTON

TREASURY FREEZES FINANCES OF SUSPECTED AL QAEDA LEADER

The Bush administration moved yesterday to freeze the finances of a Kuwaiti man it says is an Al Qaeda leader providing financial support to insurgents in Iraq.

The Treasury Department’s action against Mohsen al-Fadhli – whose first name also can be spelled Muhsin – means that any bank accounts or financial assets belonging to him that are found in America are blocked. The American government also is asking United Nations member countries to freeze Mr. al-Fadhli’s assets. The administration contends that Mr. al-Fadhli provided financial and material support to terror networks run by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al Qaeda’s top operative in Iraq. “In an effort to solidify the support of key financial backers sponsoring attacks, Mr. al-Fadhli requested that tapes be made showing evidence of successful attacks in Iraq,” the department said.

It’s the second American designation in the last few weeks related to the alleged bankrolling of insurgents in Iraq. In late January, the department took action against Sulayman Khalid Darwish, a Syrian man believed to be providing support to al-Zarqawi’s terror network.

– Associated Press

NORAD TESTING LASER WARNING SYSTEM AT REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT

The Pentagon is considering using lasers to warn pilots they’ve flown into restricted airspace, an unusual choice because the government also says terrorists might use the beams of light to blind pilots as they approach airports.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, has been researching the use of alternating red and green lasers as a way to communicate with pilots flying too near the Capitol or the White House when they can’t be reached by radio.

NORAD tried the ground-based laser signals on a test plane flying into Washington’s Reagan National Airport last Friday. The low-intensity lights are safe for the eyes, the command said in a statement.

If the system becomes operational, the Federal Aviation Administration would send a special notice to pilots describing the lights and telling them what to do if they see them.

Retired airline Captain Steve Luckey yesterday called the warning system “a step in the right direction – as long as they can show they’re prudent or safe.” Mr. Luckey, who chairs the national security committee for the Air Line Pilots Association International, has long been concerned about reports of powerful green laser beams projected into cockpits. An FAA study concluded that lasers could cause a plane to crash.

– Associated Press

NORTHWEST

WHITE SUPREMACIST CHARGED WITH SELLING MACHINE GUNS

SEATTLE – Federal agents arrested three men on gun and explosives charges yesterday, including a white supremacist who once served time for plotting to kill Martin Luther King Jr.

Keith Gilbert, 65, a former associate of late Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler, was arrested at his Seattle home, FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs said. He and the others arrested – William Heinrich, 50, and John Hejna, 44 – were ordered held until detention hearings later this week. Court-appointed lawyers for the three did not comment following separate appearances in federal court.

A complaint said Gilbert had sold AK-47 assault rifles and other weapons to a confidential informant working with the federal government over the past two years. He was charged with five counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a machine gun and possession of an unregistered gun.

He faces a maximum 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count. Gilbert was arrested in 1965 and convicted of stealing 1,400 pounds of TNT, which authorities said was part of a plot to kill King by blowing up a stage while he spoke at an Anti-Defamation League convention at Los Angeles.

Gilbert was also convicted in 1983 of assaulting a teenager from a racially mixed family.

– Associated Press